About Us

Who We Are

Sensational Kids is a national charity and non-profit dedicated to transforming the lives of children with additional needs. Founded with a vision to make therapy services accessible to all children, our organisation provides life-changing, timely evidence-based therapies and assessments for children and adolescents who may otherwise face long waiting lists for essential services publicly. As a non-profit organisation, every service we offer, all donations and every product we sell in our child development store directly supports our mission of making high-quality, accessible therapy a reality for all children so that no child is left behind. 

Sensory Motor Gyms

Our Sensory Motor Gyms are designed to provide a rich sensory environment where children can explore, develop, and thrive. These gyms incorporate equipment that supports the use of sensory integration principles in therapy  targeting areas of neurological development, including enhancing processing in the vestibular, proprioceptive, and tactile systems.. 

What sets our gyms apart is their focus on evidence-based practice and personalised intervention. Using play based activities, we help children’s nervous systems process sensory input in organised and meaningful ways. Over time, this approach enables children to respond to and interact with their environments more successfully, leading to improvements in motor planning, balance, focus, and emotional regulation. 

Our Child Development Centres provide specialist sensory motor gym facilities to meet the often complex sensory needs of the children we support. Sensory-motor skills are foundational for physical, cognitive, and social development, influencing a person’s ability to navigate and interact with the world. 

What Makes Us Different

  • Special Interest in Sensory Integration: Our Child Development Centres provide bespoke sensory motor gym facilities to meet the sensory needs of the children we support. 
  • Proven Outcomes: A recent independently evaluated outcome measurement project over two years, demonstrated that children attending therapy services at Sensational Kids achieve outcomes above and beyond what is considered to be clinically meaningful change.  
  • Our Clinical Team Our clinical team is supported and trained by experts in sensory integration, ensuring that children with sensory needs are receiving evidence-based sensory therapy to Ayres Sensory Integration® international standards. 
  • Affordability and Accessibility: Supported by fundraising and grants we provide high-quality therapy services at significantly reduced costs, ensuring that financial barriers do not prevent children from receiving the help they need. 
  • Social Enterprise Model: Sensational Kids operates a sustainable, non-profit model, with a unique approach of reinvesting revenue from our shop and services back into the provision of therapy, making it more affordable. There are no shareholders who profit. All revenues are ploughed into our therapy supports for children 
  • Holistic Approach: We offer a range of supports under one roof, from occupational and speech therapy to educational and developmental resources for children with a variety of additional needs. 
  • Family-Centred Care: Our focus extends beyond the child to include empowering and educating families, ensuring they have the tools and support necessary to foster development at home. 
  • Nationwide Impact: Sensational Kids has a growing national presence, with Child Development Centres in Kildare, Cork, Mayo, and Monaghan, serving children and families throughout Ireland. 
  • Years of Experience: Sensational Kids has been dedicated to transforming the lives of children with additional needs since 2007.

Our Services 

Sensational Kids specialises in the assessment, diagnosis, and evidence-based therapies for a wide range of developmental and neurological challenges, including: 

  • Sensory Processing Disorders (SPD) 
  • Developmental Delays 
  • Autism
  • Fragile X Syndrome 
  • Down Syndrome 
  • Genetic Disorders 
  • ADHD and Attention/Focus Differences 
  • Cerebral Palsy 
  • Dyspraxia/Motor Planning Deficits 
  • Vestibular and Balance Disorders 
  • Auditory Processing Disorders 
  • Language Delays 
  • Emotional and Behavioural Challenges 

Our team of skilled professionals includes Occupational Therapists, Speech and Language Therapists, Play Therapists and Chartered Educational Psychologists who work collaboratively to create individualised treatment plans for each child. 

Our Approach

We believe in the potential of every child and are deeply passionate about helping families achieve the best possible outcomes. Our therapies are rooted in sensory integration principles, where children’s adaptive responses to sensory experiences help mature and organise their nervous systems at higher levels. This process not only supports their physical and cognitive development but also empowers them to navigate the world with greater confidence and independence. 

Research informs us that timely intervention allows for better outcomes for children of all abilities. Your child will develop and gain confidence with the support of our team in a fun, play-based environment. 

Why Choose Sensational Kids

  • Timely Intervention: We provide access to evidence based high-quality therapy services without long delays. 
  • Proven Outcomes; A recent independently evaluated outcome measurement project over two years, demonstrated that children attending therapy services at Sensational Kids achieve outcomes above and beyond what is considered to be clinically meaningful change.  
  • Family-Centred Care: Our approach prioritises the needs of both the child and their family. The family are viewed as key team members and goals are established collaboratively. Families are included as active participants in the therapy process.  
  • Innovative Facilities: Our Sensory Motor Gyms offer cutting-edge therapeutic spaces designed to facilitate the developmental progression for each child in a fun and playful environment
  • Non-Profit Mission: As a charitable organisation, there are no shareholders benefiting from profits. Instead all income is ploughed back into our therapeutic services for children.

At Sensational Kids our therapy support team employ the following EVIDENCE BASED models of practice

  • Ayres Sensory Integration® 
  • Trauma informed approach 
  • Neuroaffirmative 
  • Perceptual Motor 
  • Sensory Motor 
  • The CO-OP approach: a child centred, performance-based, problem solving approach that enables skill acquisition through the process of strategy use and guided discovery 
  • DIR floor time 
  • SOS Feeding 
  • CBT (cognitive behaviour therapy) 
  • Person centred and trauma informed practice 

Our Story

Sensational Kids was founded in 2007 by Karen Leigh, a mother whose personal experience navigating Ireland’s fragmented and under-resourced therapy services for children with additional needs inspired her to create a better solution. When her own child faced long waiting lists for essential therapy services, Karen realised that many families in Ireland were in the same position, unable to access or afford the support their children desperately needed. 

While visiting California for her own son’s treatment, Karen had the opportunity to explore state-of-the-art sensory motor gyms. These world-class facilities showcased cutting-edge approaches to therapy, providing children with engaging environments tailored to their developmental needs. Karen was deeply inspired by what she saw in California and was determined to bring similar facilities to Ireland. This vision became a cornerstone of Sensational Kids, ensuring that children in Ireland could benefit from the same high-quality therapeutic environments. 

Determined to address this gap, Karen established Sensational Kids as a social enterprise and charity with a mission to provide affordable, accessible, and high-quality therapy services. 

Starting from a single centre in Kildare, Sensational Kids has since grown into a national organisation, with four Child Development Centres across Ireland, that has already supported 10,000 children. 

Karen’s vision remains at the heart of Sensational Kids: ensuring that every child has the opportunity to reach their full potential, regardless of financial or geographic barriers. 

Take a Look at what we do in our short videos

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Making a Difference

  1. Over 10,000 children have been supported with individual therapy supports and assessments by Sensational Kids over the past 16 years.
  2. To date more than €3 million in savings has been delivered to families through Sensational Kids’ subsidised therapy fees.
  3. Evidence Based, Proven Outcomes: A recent, independent program evaluation of the outcomes achieved by children benefitting from therapies at Sensational Kids, showed outcomes consistently above “clinically significant change,” demonstrating the profound positive changes achieved in a child’s developmental progression at Sensational Kids.
Donate Now to Sensational Kids to Create Better Futures for Children

Child Development Centres

  1. KILDARE: Sensational Kids, Unit C2 Kildare, Business Park, Melitta Road, Kildare Town R51 WP02 Phone 045 520900. Email Info@sensationalkids.ie  Open Monday – Friday
  2. MAYO: Sensational Kids, Lakeside Retail Park, Claremorris, Co Mayo, F12 P2H9 Phone 094 9357005, Email: Claremorris@sensationalkids.ie Open Monday – Friday
  3. WEST CORK: Sensational Kids, 2nd Floor, Building G, West Cork Technology Park Clonakilty, Co Cork, P85 VF62 Phone 023 887 8208 Email: Clonakilty@sensationalkids.ie Open Monday – Friday
  4. MONAGHAN: Unit 8 Clones Business Technology Park, Clones, County Monaghan H23 P294 Phone 047 52671 Email Clones@sensationalkids.ie Open Monday – Friday
Our Vision

Our Vision

All children and adolescents in Ireland have access to timely and impactful therapeutic services.

Our Mission

Our Mission

Our mission is to transform the lives of children through therapy, toys and training.

Our Values

Our Values

FAMILY CENTERED: It is more than just the child/ adolescents

INCLUSIVE: All children, all adolescents, all ages, all abilities

RESPECT: Everyone is equal and TRUST is key

FUN: Always finding time to smile and laugh.

PLAY: Play-based model to support therapeutic engagement

EXCELLENCE: Quality in everything we do

SOCIAL ENTERPRISE: The SK mission is the heart of everything we do

INNOVATION: Always looking at what could progress and be better